


Beginning After Ending

by Nominee



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Coming of Age, Drama, Existentialism, Fluff, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-22
Updated: 2017-06-01
Packaged: 2018-08-10 02:38:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7827097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nominee/pseuds/Nominee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Winwin is struggling. He's struggling a lot. Fresh out of high school and he has no idea what to do with his life. During his journey, he begins to see a boy with a strange look on his face everywhere he goes and makes it his job to find out why.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning

Graduation day is here. It is finally here. The day I've been waiting for ever since I took my first step into the hell hole people call school at the innocent age of 5. The long and agonizing wait is finally over after 13 years,  _bless._ The waiting hall is filled with laughter and chatter, everyone is smiling. I'm sitting next to two guys I have never seen in my life; though, everyone seems to know them. My legs are jumping up and down with anticipation and nerves. I look down at my lap and place my hands in it to cease my jitters.

The realization that I am going to leave behind the stress and late nights of over half my life makes my shoulders slump in relief. I imagine finding my mom and younger brother, Chenle, outside the convention center. I imagine my mom with tears in her eyes and Chenle with jealousy in his. My sister and father would be missing, not that the latter mattered to me.  My mind begins to wander to other things, non-consequential things, like falling on stage and my group of friends never letting the incident go. 

The people around me begin to clap and count down loudly. I look up to see that the timer on the projector is nearing its end and my legs begin to shake once again. There's chaos, as expected from excited teenagers. The staff is trying to quickly get us inside the stadium without a commotion. All too soon, bright lights hit my eyes and I squint.

There is cheering and smiling coming from everywhere, hundreds of people are filling the seats; I'm not even going to bother looking for my family. As I round a corner, I see the school band, red faced, playing the school song continuously. Both the people I am walking with have bags under their eyes, evidence of having to be at school at 5 in the morning, but look like they are untroubled. I don't realize I've stopped at my seat until the boy at my side elbows me and flashes me a kind smile and a fist as if to say, _"_ _we've made it, fam"._ I attempt a genuine smile back, which I'm sure looked shaky and forced.

The ceremony goes by in a flash, which was actually 3 hours, and I managed not to fall and look like a fool in front of my high school crush, Lisa (a/n black pink reference aye), not that it will matter as I'm not going to see her ever again. I'm standing near a tree outside the building at a spot my mom and I agreed to meet at. As I am standing there, I realize I am now a free man, or boy according to my mother. The dull expression I have had since I woke up changes to one of authentic glee. The corners of my lips turn up into a smile at the same time I spot my family. Chenle runs to meet me and I envelop him into a hug.

I hear a muffled  _"you did it, idiot"_ against my neck and laugh in response. He leans away from me and I look up to see my mom with tears in her eyes and smiling brightly. She opens her arms and I lean down a bit to hug her. I can see from the corner of my eye that Chenle is taking his phone out and taking a picture, the shutter sound going off. I pull away from my mom and smile at her. Another shutter is heard and I turn to him.

"Give mom your phone, so we can take a picture." He quickly does as I say and squishes into my side since the forecourt is overcrowded, not that I mind. After a quick photo session with my small family, my mom tells me that she is going to go to the restroom before we leave, Chenle in tow. I look around in search for one of my closest friends for a good 5 minutes before spotting him. I rush over and slam into him causing him to stumble.

"Yo, watch wher- oh, Winwin!" Taeyong's scowl quickly turns into a giddy smile and he slaps my back instead of hugging me.

_"Winnie Pooh, I don't hug guys. I'm_ manly _, babe, and hugging guys is_ definitely _not_ manly _."_

_"You legit have your arms around my waist. Also, did you suddenly forget the fact that you're_ gay _, Tae." I was quickly hushed after saying this._

"Pops! Take a picture of me and this loser." He quickly takes his stance with the V pose and I follow.

"Wow, can't you be nice for at least today?"

"No." The flash from the camera momentarily blinds me, but I manage to keep my eyes open. Taeyong's dad hands us the device and we inspect the picture. We both nod in approval and hand it back into safe hands, one of us are bound to drop it.

"Have you seen any of the others?" I ask him while Taeyong squints and looks around.

"I saw Johnny and Ten canoodling over," a pause, "there! Oh, _wow_ , gross. How can they do that in front of their family? I can't even look one of you guys in the eyes in front of mine!" I look over to the hand around my back and on my shoulder and roll my eyes.

"Dude, you can't look me in the eyes, but you sure can be all handsy." He looks at his arm and quickly returns it to his side, clearing his throat.

"Go away, peasant. I'm going to go eat with the fam, I'll see you tomorrow." I nod and bid his family farewell.

Before I can begin to approach the other two, someone taps me on my shoulder. I turn to see a boy. A very _pretty_ boy. He looks down at his feet and back up at me in a nervous manner, his tassel swinging back and forth. _Aw, cute._  "I believe you dropped this." He points down to his palm where a graduation cord was hanging. My hands immediately go up to my neck to check to see if I'm missing any and sure enough, I am.

"Oh." I reach for my cords and I see that he flushes a little when my hand brushes his palm as I retrieve it. "My mom would have killed me if I lost this. Thank you, um..." We stare at each other until he realizes why my sentence suddenly died down.

"Kun!" He says a little too loudly. "And no problem, Winwin. Congrats on graduating, by the way." I look at him in confusion and surprise. He blushes, again, when he registers what he has said. "I'm not saying I expected you not to! I'm just, you know, happy you're going away. Wait that came out wrong." After his rant, Kun makes a quiet sound that can only be described as a groan of mortification and quickly turns and scurries away.

"Yeah, you too." I say as I stare at his retreating back. I look away after a good while and start to head towards Johnny and Ten, but see that they are no longer "canoodling", as Taeyong described it, nor at the spot where I last saw them. However, I do see my mom and Chenle coming back from inside the building and quickly approaching. My mom smiles when she gets to me and pats my back, softly, not like the idiot from earlier, in affection. 

"Ready to go?" I nod. "Alright, where do you want to eat?" I open my mouth to reply , but don't manage to get a sound out before Chenle begins to dart out suggestions as we walk to our car.

As we wait to cross the road to the parking lot, I turn to check for oncoming cars and see a fifth unfamiliar face for today. He appears to be taller than I am, with broad shoulders. He is walking with his head turned down, cap and cords in his arms, a sullen expression on his face. I frown in discontent as I continue to watch him. _Shouldn't he look happier, or at least relieved? I mean sure the graduation ceremony wasn't the most exciting, nor shortest thing to sit through, but we just_ graduated. _And why isn't he with anyone? This is a big event, and it's free, so I don't see a reason for no one to come cheer him on. Maybe his family already reached their car? Still that doesn't explain his expression. Is he sad about leaving his friends behind? I know I am going to, but there's always visiting and technology._  I break out of my reverie when I see him enter a car and it quickly drives away. I look after it for a while until I feel someone poking my stomach. I look over to see Chen Le staring at me weirdly. _I_ _rritation?_ Why would he be frustrated with me? 

"-out of it. Aren't you going to choose something or not, hyung? I'm starving! Three hours of sitting is a lot of work, you know?" He huffs after finishing his mini-rant and looks at me expectantly. I gather the gist of what he was trying to tell me.

"I don't mind, so anything is fine. As long as we can get ice cream afterwards." My mom nods and Chenle begins to tell my mom his favorite eat out places as we continue to walk towards the car.

The rest of the day passes by much like the beginning of my day, in a flash. When I finally get to lay down at the end of the day, I think back to that boy. He looked so unhappy that it was a bit worrisome. I think about of him and wonder what made him look like that until I feel myself slipping into sleep. Through the night, my multiple dreams consist of varying situations involving the sullen boy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want this to be realistic, minus the romance; cause really, when does this ever happen irl? Anyway, I hope y'all like this crappy story I'm writing. Also, I apologize for it being so short, but I rather it be quality over quantity. Have a good day, or night, honey bunches!  
> Much love and care from your author, Nominee.
> 
> P.S. I listened to old Exo songs while writing this, oops.


	2. Pondering

"Dude we're in public, so quit feeling me up. No, please, don't do that, not that. I'll let you once we're at my place, but please. Hey now, I said please. Get your hands out of my pants!" Finally having enough, I rose from my seat from next to Taeyong. We were currently at our local mall's food court and people were beginning to notice the silver haired boy's hands wandering to inappropriate places on my body.

Taeyong looks up at me with pleading eyes and his hands clasped, acting innocent. After he noticed my breathing calm down some, he begins to speak in an annoyingly cute voice. "Winnie-ah, don't be mad at your hyung. You know I do this because I love my sweet dongsaeng, right? Come on now, sit, baby." He pats the seat next to him and flashes me his saccharine sweet smile, winning me over, and convincing me to sit. I huff as I plop down next to him once again and make sure his hands are nowhere near me.

"I hate you."

"No you don't. You love me so much. Otherwise, you wouldn't let me pet you outside of the house."

"I  _didn't_ let you. Also, what you just did cannot be considered petting. That was sexual harassment, mi amigo. I don't even know why I'm friends with you." I muttered the last bit. However, Taeyong's super human hearing caught on to what I said.

"I repeat. You are friends with me because your love for me is too strong to ever leave me. We are going to be together forever, Winwin-ah. Doesn't that sound great?!" Taeyong sounded genuinely excited and it would have scared me if I wasn't used to his creepy comments. I look at him for a while, watching him slurp his yogurt smoothie, until he looks up at me. "What?"

I shake my head and pick up a potato chip. "Didn't you say you didn't like physical touching because you were _manly,_ or some shit?"

"I can't help it that you're the only available man candy around me. Ten's already taken, sadly. Fucking Johnny beat me to asking him out. What's so great about _him_ anyway? Ten should've said no! Don't get me wrong, I love Johnny-boy, but  _c'mon. Look at me._ I'm practically an adonis. Scratch that. I  _am_ an adonis! Don't you agree Pooh bear?" 

I look over at the boy I consider my best friend batting his eyelashes awaiting my response. "No."

Taeyong begins to screech over me not agreeing and something about how his mom agrees. I slouch in my seat and ignore him the best I can and begin to sip my coffee when I see him.  _That boy._ I sit up in surprise and don't take my eyes off of him. I rake my eyes over his tall frame,  _totally_ not checking him out. He has unruly light brown, with a tint of orange, hair that frames his pale face. His plump, yet thin, lips are set in a slight frown, almost there, but not. He is wearing a pink sweater with a fish on it and some black jeans. I didn't have time to look at his shoes,  _I love shoes_ , because he went into the restroom at a hurried pace. As I kept on watching the restroom doors, waiting for the boy to come out, I felt a harsh slap at my thigh. 

"Ouch! What the heck, Tae? What the hell is your problem?"

"You. You weren't paying attention to me, you hoe. What were you looking at? Do you want more chips or something, darling? I'll get them for you if you give me something in return." Taeyong suggestively wiggles his eyebrows at me and began to slither his hand up my arm in order to distract me from the fact that he was beginning to slide his foot up my _inner thigh? How in the heavens name is he that flexible?_ I push my chair back, not wanting to go through a "petting" session again, or be oddly, and not intentionally, aroused by his ministrations.

I clear my throat and tell him that I needed to use the restroom, both a lie and a truth, and head towards the place where my, _I mean the,_ boy went. As I enter, all I hear is guys whistling and them doing their business. I pretend I went in there to wash my hands and head over to the sinks. I just want a glimpse of him, up close. I wash my hands until they are wrinkly and the guys that come in and leave before me look at me weirdly. The number of people dwindle and still the boy doesn't come out. I slowly close the water valve and walk over to the napkin dispenser. I notice that no one is in here as I am drying my hands. I am nearing the door when I hear it.

Rustling in a stall, water splashing, and then a sort of moan of exasperation and horror. I retreat my hand from the door handle and wait for another sound. All I hear is more weird sounds and I debate whether to ask if he's alright or not, but the opening of the stall door saves me from having to decide. The boy comes out, still huffing and puffing and wiping something in his hands with a piece of cloth. I notice he changed into a uniform, work I'm assuming, and has a backpack that I hadn't noticed before. His frown has deepened and he walks to the sinks. I watch as he washes his phone and then his hands, all while  _still_ making distressed noises under his breath.

"Is your phone alright?" He doesn't look up and I assume he didn't hear me over the sound of the water running. I decide to no longer be a weenie and walk over to him. I tap his shoulder and he whirls around with a startled expression, clearly not expecting anyone to be here. "Is your phone, um, alive?" His face doesn't change expressions and I begin to become uncomfortable. Not only did I approach a stranger, but a beautiful stranger. Up close, I can see every detail, okay maybe not every detail, of his face. He looks like, what Taeyong would call himself, an adonis. He continues to look at me the same way and I only scratch the back of my head, not saying another word.

Finally, after what seems like an eternity, the boy relaxes a bit, but I can see that his shoulders are tensed just slightly. I ask him the status of his, probably deceased, phone for the third time. He only gives me a once over, nods, then leaves the restroom. I stand there in confusion for a couple of seconds after his departure and turn to leave. However, I see something on the counter and approach it once more. His phone. I pick it up and rush out the restroom to try and find the boy, but get slammed back in. I fall to the floor and rub my forehead in pain. 

"Woah, sweetie, are you okay?" I glare up at Taeyong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry for the long wait, but you know how when you only eat junk food and feel so guilty about it that you believe that you shouldn't do anything because of the guilt? That's what happened. Anyway, hope you all are having an amazing week so far. Enjoy this terrible chapter. Much love!


	3. Painting

After the incident at the bathroom, Taeyong became overly affectionate again. He kept his arm around my waist for the rest of the day while we went from store to store. Not only was he physically affectionate, but he bought me things as well; something that is very unusual. Tae splurging on others happened only when it would benefit himself. He once bought me lingerie, fish nets plus other weird looking things, and wanted me to model for him. I had talked to Johnny about it and he said that he had also done it to him and Ten on various occasions. However, he would also buy us anything and everything if he felt guilty about something. The red bump on my forehead and my constant complaints of my nose hurting was enough to make him feel sympathetic, I guess. 

Taeyong clung to my arm like the overly affectionate girl, I mean boy, he is. "Is my darling okay now?" he leant over to whisper into my ear, might I say, extremely creepily.

I swat at his face and managed to slap him, _by accident,_ of course _. Who am I kidding, I hoped to hit him._ "For the thousandth time, hyung, yes. Although I'm appreciative of all that you've bought me, I'm tired as hell."

"I meant physically. No way are we stopping now!" Taeyong cheerfully shouts, startling a mother and her child who were passing by, the kid immediately bursting into tears. The mother crouches down and manages to calm the once sobbing child. She then turns to us to glare and promptly picks the child up to quickly walk away, I shout an apology which then makes the kid start up again and I wince. With the pair gone, I turn to stare at, a sheepishly looking, Taeyong. 

"Look hyung, I'll go wherever as long as you buy me more food and you quit shouting. That sound good?" 

"Do I get to cuddle with you as well?" he says whilst making use of his stupidly amazing puppy face. 

I sigh in exasperation, but agree in resignation, knowing it was for the best.  _For the children, Sicheng. Do it for the children._

Taeyong throws his arms up and begins to open his mouth in happiness, but remembers our deal and decides to simply smile at me. I pat his back to indicate that we should start moving and he practically purrs at the contact. He leads the way to an unknown destination excitedly as he talks non-stop. 

After what seems like hours, which was probably 10 minutes, of walking, he stops in front of a children's craft and paint shop. I throw Taeyong a questioning look, but he ignores me and goes straight in without hesitation. 

"This is the best store, my love. I can get really cool coloring books,  _for my niece,_ of course," he nervously chuckles, "obviously not for me. I'm a man. A manly ma- Oh my god! Look at these adorable Christmas coloring books. 'Tis the season, Winwin-ah. 'Tis the season, I tell you." Taeyong holds up one of the many cute coloring books with a twinkle in his eyes.  _Something is telling me that these are_ not  _for his niece._ "Get any and as many as you'd like, babe. My treat."

"But hyung, I said I wanted food. Not coloring books! This store is for kids anyway." He, once again, ignores me and continues to browse like the giant toddler he claims he isn't. I decide to just look around the place for a place to sit because knowing Taeyong, we were going to be here a while. I walk away while he's distracted with a Barney book. The store looked spacious from the outside, but the inside a whole different story. It was narrow, but lengthy without it being scary. The walls were white, but had collages of kids painting's, drawing's, and even quilting. The shelves looked as if they were supposed to be white, but were drawn on with crayons and markers by, again, kids. Instead of the normal lighting fixtures that stores have, there were ice crystal Christmas lights hung up. All in all, it was pretty amazing and had to agree with Taeyong with it being a cool store.

I had walked the perimeter of the store and decided to check out the inner shelves, a habit I have had since I was little. As I was looking at the various kid friendly scissors, I saw someone walk by. I hadn't seen anyone until now, so I followed. It turned out to be a kid who looked about seven with an apron and paint all over his face. He was walking to the core of the store where there turned out to be a sort of lounge area. There were couches and mini tables and chairs on top of a, paint covered, fluffy white rug. There were about three kids in front of a painting stand assessing, what I'm guessing is, one of the other kid's painting. How they were able to critique when they were only toddlers is beyond me, but hey. Kids these days are pretty advanced. I looked around and saw no adults present.  _What type of people leave little people on their own with paint?_ _It could be toxic. But then again, it_ is  _a kid friendly store._

As I'm about to leave, I see about nine other kids approaching the painting area with similar get up, full body aprons and paper covering their shoes. Curious, I sit down on one of the couches and observe the scene in front of me. Never had I seen so many kids not making a ruckus. Some of the new comers passed by me and threw me weirded out looks, as if they had never seen a guy my age in the store. After about 10 minutes of them just painting in peace, none talking, Taeyong comes towards me, looking at everything with excitement,  _obviously._

"Oh you found the art class! What's today?"

"December 12."

"No, silly goose," he bops my nose, "Thursday, Friday..."

"It's Tuesday, hyung."

"Right! So it must be the cool class! Winnie Pooh, they're so well behaved every time I come in on Tuesdays. They never yell! Well, they don't talk either, but that's besides the point! You know I hate kids, but these little ones are pretty awesome. Look I'll introduce you." He motions for me to get up and walk over to the plethora of toddlers. "This here," he points to the boy I had followed, "is Harry. That's George. And that one is Fred. Over by the girl with the overalls, that's Hermione by the way, is Ron and-"

"Dude, are those their actual names or did you just name them after Harry Potter characters?"

"Not important. What  _is_ important is that they like me."

"Sure they do."

"I'm serious! I come here every Tuesday, Wednesday, the occasional Thursday, if I can't come Friday's then Saturday's are my make up day-" I glare at him and he promptly stops, closing his mouth, "you get the point. I come here often." I nod and purse my lips understanding. 

"Okay, but how do you not know their names yet?"

"They don't answer me when I try to talk to them." Taeyong pouts and chuckle at his misery.

"I wonder why."

"Yes, I, too, wonder why." I roll my eyes at him and approach the one he has dubbed Ron. He looks up at me,  _wow he does look like Ron,_ and I motion for him to continue after saying hi. He smiles and waves and continues to paint, very artistically may I add. I raise my eyebrows, impressed, and continue to go around, glancing at Taeyong attempting to interact with the kids, unsuccessfully, every once in a while. When I get behind "Hermione" and look at her painting I tap her shoulder. She then turns around with her paintbrush in hand and smears orange paint over my shirt. Her mouth drops open and she starts to profusely apologize to me even as I say it's okay, her looking at my shirt during the whole debacle. I squat down to her meet her eyes and ruffle her hair to assure her it's fine.

While I'm comforting her, I feel a tap on my shoulder and turn around to see a guy behind me.  _Oh so they aren't left_ _unsupervised._ I get up from the uncomfortable position and completely turn my body in order to address the  _adult._ My mouth drops open a little, not enough to be embarrassing, thank our lord and savior Kim Woo Bin. The guy from graduation, the guy from earlier in the restroom, stands in front of me still looking amazing, even covered in paint. A hand waves in front of me, breaking my sinful thoughts. 

"You alright, sweetheart?" I turn to my right and see a concerned Taeyong and nod, not minding the pet name for once.

"I'm so sorry, sir. Your shirt is ruined! We have spares in the back, in case of emergencies, if you'd like one? If not, we can give you a discount on your... coloring books?" A small woman in her mid-thirties says behind the adonis. I notice that he still isn't talking.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I'm a terrible person for leaving this story for so long, I know. I just don't get inspired to write, or get too lazy to do anything. I will continue to write this, but the chapters won't be as long (not like they are anyway). Hopefully I write again soon! I hope everyone has been doing well, even with the presidency, the terror attacks around the world, and just everything in general. Hang in there, ya'll. 
> 
> P.S. Ya'll should listen to Josef Salvat's "This Life". I heard this song way back and it is still one of my favorites. His back story is pretty kick ass. Much love, my darlings.


End file.
